Sophomore Zak Kovacic pitched five innings of shutout ball to pick up the win at home against Troy Saturday, Mar. 8.Photo Credit: Robert Campbell

Laguna appears to be on-track for one of their best seasons ever as they opened the squad’s 76th campaign with three straight victories. Breakers started the season on Thursday, March 6, with a 6-2 victory over Orange. Grant Wilhelm went the distance for the win striking out 10. Anthony Norelli had two of Laguna’s six hits, Richie Nunis three RBI’s. Laguna broke the 2-2 tie with two runs in the third and a pair of insurance runs in the sixth inning. It was only Laguna’s fifth win in the 29 game series with the Panthers.

On Saturday, the Breakers had the second best outing all-time with a surprising 28-0 rout of Troy pounding out 22 hits as the Warriors used seven pitchers in the contest that included an 11 run inning by Laguna. Sophomore pitcher Zak Kovacic went five innings, allowing two hits, one walk striking out five. Anthony Norelli closed the game going two innings with one hit and three strikeouts. Preston Grand Pre had four hits, Will McInerny, Jack Simon, and Cole Coscino added three each.

Tuesday at Skipper Carrillo Field saw the Breakers clip Ocean View 2-0 behind Will McInerny’s four innings of pitching, relief work from Anthony Norelli (two innings) and Preston Grand Pre (one inning) to record the shutout. Laguna has not allowed a run in 18 innings. Breakers scored in the first inning as Preston Grand Pre led off with a single, stole second and scored off a hit by Grant Wilhelm. Garrett Burk scored the insurance run in the fourth inning.

Next week Laguna opens the defense of their league title at Godinez (1-2) on Tuesday and hosting Saddleback (0-6) on Friday.

The squad dropped a 227-189 match to Capo Valley on March 6 and played two matches this past week both with Dana Hills. Next week they have a pair of matches with Sage Hill.

Softball (0-6)

The softball squad lost their opening season match on March 4 dropping a 15-8 contest at University. This past weekend, they dropped three games in the Costa Mesa tournament on the Mustang campus losing 8-1 to Crean Lutheran on Friday and 8-5 to La Quinta/Westminster on Saturday and 2-0 to Santa Ana in the second Saturday contest. The Breakers opened play in the North Orange County Tournament this past Tuesday losing to Fullerton 20-0 and Brea-Olinda 23-0. Laguna will resume games the North OC tournament this past Thursday and in the Costa Mesa tournament this weekend. The squad will travel to Fountain Valley for a non-league game next Tuesday before opening league play with Estancia on March 20.

Swimming (1-0)

Freshman Aria Fischer won the 500 free during a home meet against Pacific and Garden Grove, Wednesday, March 5.Photo Credit: Robert Campbell

Breakers opened the dual meet season with a sweep of Pacifica of Garden Grove on Wednesday, March 5, at the local pool. Girls’ varsity won 123-32 and the boys took the Mariners 119-50. Laguna is still far from top form. Breakers participated in the Los Alamitos Relays on March 8 (finished 2nd) and open the league dual meet season on March 19 hosting Calvary Chapel. Breakers have won the last five Boys league swim titles and six straight with the girls.

Junior Erik Juliusson won the 200 free during a home meet against Pacific and Garden Grove, Wednesday, March 5.Photo Credit: Robert Campbell.

Laguna won their first match of the season on Monday at the local courts beating J Serra 12-6. Ryan Gee and Stewart Webb won two of three singles matches while the doubles team of Alex Duong and Zach Washer swept the their three doubles matches by identical 6-1 scores. The squad traveled to Trabuco Hills on March 13 and open the defense of their league title on Tuesday, March 18 at Saddleback. Breakers were co-champions last season with Estancia but held the tie breaker for the league’s top entry into the playoffs where they advanced to the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.

Breakers lost a tough battle to fourth-ranked Southern Section D-I San Clemente squad 24-26, 27-29, 25-23, 22-25 on Tuesday at Dugger Gym as Laguna was unable to close out two sets where they carried leads into the final points. Set one Breakers led 24-23, set two it was 24-22. Jack Wyatt and Tyler Alter led with 16 kills each while Noah Blanton added 13 kills, three solo blocks, and a block assist. JP Wollam dished out 50 set-assists and served up three aces. Laguna still leads the all-time series with the Tritons 30-16.

This weekend the Breakers play in the Dos Pueblos Tournament and Tuesday, March 18 travel to Corona del Mar for their annual battle with the fifth-ranked Sea Kings. JV play is at 4 p.m. followed by the varsity match

League play opens on March 25 at Godinez.

The JV squad won the Foothill Tournament this past weekend. In the championship match against Los Al, Breakers used a balance attack with three kills each by David Berney, Brian Ford, and Dane Olson to stop the Griffins. On Tuesday, they defeated San Clemente 28-26, 25-18 to keep their record perfect.

The frosh-soph team won their pool in the Newport Tournament this past Saturday sweeping Los Alamitos, University, and Esperanza before losing a single set playoff game to Mater Dei 25-18. On Tuesday, Laguna edged San Clemente 25-22, 20-25, 15-13.